Arms
by HappyEndings831
Summary: Booth and Brennan have a fight that causes Booth to leave and Brennan to reevaluate hers and Booth's life together. Season 7. Slightly AU. R&R! B&B. "You put your arms around me, and I'm home."


**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! All rights, characters, etc. belong to HH, FOX, and Kathy Reichs. I only own this fanfic (plot, idea, etc.) and the characters I, myself, make up!  
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**I was inspired by Christina Perri's song _Arms_. I suggest you listen to it some time. Read & Review, like always, please. I hope you like this. ((: -Mandy**

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><p>He ran a hand through his short brown hair. His sad brown eyes bore into her light blue ones. A frown formed on Seeley Booth's face as he looked at his partner, in so many ways, Temperance Brennan.<p>

Booth sniffled and stood up from the couch. He shook his head as he whispered, "I can't believe you just said that." His nostrils flared as he walked toward the front door.

"Wait, Booth! You don't understand! That's not what I meant!" Brennan called after him with tears in her eyes and a frown on her face.

"I'll be back later," he called over his shoulder, as he grabbed his coat from the rack near the door and left the apartment, slamming the door behind him, loudly. The noise made Brennan jump.

After a moment of dead silence, a tear ran down her cheek. She stared at the door from her vantage point for another moment before slumping onto the couch and looking up at the ceiling.

Temperance let out a loud sigh as she rested her hands on her five month old baby bump. She couldn't believe that she could say something so horrible to Booth. Her lover. Her best friend. The father of her child.

She shook her head, angry at herself, as she thought over the conversation they'd had, only minutes before.

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><p><em>Dinner was almost ready. It was their favorite. Macaroni and cheese. <em>

_Brennan was stirring the noodles and adding the cheese she'd melted herself to the pot. Booth was standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist and his lips attached to the side of Brennan's neck._

"_Booth," Brennan smiled as Booth's lips trailed up to her ear, "dinner is almost ready."_

"_I know," he whispered in her ear, sending a shiver down Brennan's spine. He pulled away suddenly and then walked over to the corner cupboard to pull out two bowls._

"_Tease," Brennan muttered, earning a chuckle in response from Booth._

"_Of course," Booth kissed her cheek and then pulled out two forks from a drawer. He smiled at her as she scooped out their macaroni and cheese into each of their dishes._

_Then, Booth made a face. "You put more macaroni in your bowl than you did in mine," he looked up at her with a pouty face. "Not nice," he scolded, shaking his head._

"_Here," Brennan switched bowls with him quickly, "you can have mine."_

_Booth looked up at her skeptically. "Was that reverse psychology? Did you purposely put more in my bowl, knowing I'd notice? Did you make it look like you had more, just so you could end up with more mac and cheese?"_

_Brennan blinked at him and frowned, "How is that logical at all, Booth? I hate psychology and I tried to put equal amounts of macaroni and cheese into each bowl. I can always make more…" she trailed off, seeing the smirk on her partner's face. Brennan slapped Booth's bicep with a tiny smirk as she stated, "You were kidding."_

"_I was," Booth smiled with a nod reaching for the bowl. Brennan pulled it out of reach. "You did put more in mine didn't you?"_

"_Yep," Brennan gave him a cheesy smile. Booth shook his head and planted a sweet kiss on her lips._

_Booth pulled away with a smiled and then picked up his fork. He heaped on a large pile of the cheesy noodles and placed them in his mouth. His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Best. Macaroni. And. Cheese. Ever._

_He looked over at his pregnant girlfriend, who was watching him silently, and smiled at her. Booth swallowed the contents of his mouth and then said, "We need to talk about this. Us."_

_Brennan gave him a wide eyed, raised eyebrow, look. She swallowed a forkful of the macaroni and said, "I thought we'd already done that numerous times, but okay. What do we need to talk about?"_

"_Let's go sit on the couch," Booth suggested as he walked out into his living room and plopped on the couch. A moment later, Brennan joined him._

_He turned toward her, placing his bowl of mac and cheese and hers on the coffee table. Booth looked into her eyes and whispered, "Will you marry me?"_

_Brennan looked anywhere but into Booth's eyes. She bit her lip and shook her head as she whispered, "No." Finally, she looked into Booth's eyes. He looked disappointed but not surprised._

"_Why not?" he asked as a crease formed in between his eyebrows._

"_We're knew to this…us," Brennan explained shakily, "and you know how I feel about marriage, in the first place."_

"_Okay," Booth nodded his head and then looked directly into her eyes, "so what's the real reason you don't want to marry me?"_

"_Those are the reasons, Booth," she blinked at him and then shoved some macaroni into her mouth._

"_No, they aren't," Booth prodded. He sighed, changing the subject, for now. "Would you marry me a few years down the line?"_

_Brennan's heart stopped. She bit her lip and then whispered, "Probably not."_

_Booth's eyes widened and he could feel his heart breaking - no, crushing - he mentally corrected himself. "Why not?" he choked out._

"_A few years from now…how will you know…how will…how are you so sure that we'll still be together?" Brennan asked, looking into Booth's eyes._

_She could tell when his metaphorical heart stopped. There was dead silence between the two. _

_Then, Brennan saw a metaphorical fire blazing in his eyes. He was angry, and he was hurt._

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><p>Temperance Brennan did not believe in forever believe in fate before Seeley Booth. She did not dream of forever before him either.<p>

Booth had changed her. He had given her a reason to get up in the morning. A reason to smile. Booth had shown her that there was more to living than just being alive. He'd shown her that not everything was about science.

He had shown her what it was like to be loved by someone wholly and without judgment - in a romantic way, of course. Booth had shown her what it was like to be happy.

And, Brennan couldn't help but think that she'd just ruined all of that.

A tear ran down Brennan's face and landed on her hand. She stared down at the tear and sighed. She shook her hand and stood up, wiping her face off with the backs of her hands.

Brennan picked up hers and Booth's discarded dinner and walked toward the kitchen, finishing what Booth hadn't eaten. Then, she started doing dishes, hoping that Booth would come home soon.

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><p>It was about an hour later when Brennan finally heard the lock in the front door. She heard it open and then close. Brennan listened intently as she heard Booth's footsteps throughout the apartment.<p>

She was sitting on the kitchen floor, holding a paper towel to her hand. She'd accidentally cut herself with a knife she was cleaning and had to tend to it. Brennan didn't feel like getting up, so she had been sitting on the floor for about ten minutes.

Booth appeared in the doorway. His shoulders were slightly hunched, and he looked tired. He walked over to wear Brennan was, near the sink, and slid to the floor, beside her.

He took her paper towel covered hand and examined it. When he was satisfied that the cut wasn't life threatening, he spoke. "What did you mean when you asked me if you thought we'd still be together?" he whispered, his eyes slowly traveling up, until they met hers.

"I meant that," Brennan thought for a moment, trying to word her thoughts correctly, "one day, in the future, you may change your mind about being with me. You may want someone else. Someone who can get your jokes. Someone who has very much in common with you. Someone you'll be happy with." She fought back the urge to cry as she continued, "I don't want to hold you back, and marriage will do that. You're catholic, so a divorce would probably be out of the question, if you were to ever change your mind. I want you to be happy. That's all I want. And, I don't see how you could be happy with," she sniffled as a tear slowly ran down her cheek, "me."

Booth brushed away the tear with his thumb and then held her face in his hands. "How could you ever think that, Bones? You're my _best friend_. I don't care if you don't get my jokes. When you're confused and I have to tell explain them to you, you get the cutest look on your face. It's true. We don't have a lot in common, but I don't care about that either. I love learning new things from you, and I love teaching you new things.

"I am happy with you. I won't change my mind about us because I love you. Because you're the one. You complete me, Bones, and that's all I could ever want. All I could ever ask for." Booth gave her a warm smile, as his own eyes grew misty. "I want you for ever."

"How can you know that you'll still want me?" Brennan asked, more tears running down her cheeks and splashing onto Booth's large hands.

"Bones, you're my home, as weird as that may sound. You' make me feel safe. You make me happy. You are my everything, and I refuse to ever give you up," he whispered. "Please, trust me on this."

Brennan stared into his eyes for a moment, seeing the love of seven years, and counting, in his eyes. She saw that he was being honest. That he loved her. And she nodded.

She smiled at him as she whispered, "I love you, Booth."

Booth was quiet for a moment. This was the first time she'd said it to him since they'd gotten together, almost half a year ago. He'd known that she loved him. He was just waiting for her to say it aloud.

He kissed her lips and then whispered against them, "I love you too, Bones."

A few minutes later, Booth helped Brennan up and then walked into the bedroom with her. They dressed for bed and then plopped on the large mattress together.

They lay in the bed, when Booth whispered, half asleep, "Will you marry me, one day?" to Brennan.

"Yes," Brennan nodded against his bare chest.

They both fell asleep smiling, wrapped in each other's arms.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Please leave a (kind) review! -Mandy ((:<strong>


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